Last chance to &#8220;Step Up to the Plate @ your library&#8221;; program concludes September 1

For Immediate Release
August 22, 2006

Last chance to “Step Up to the Plate @ your library”;
program concludes September 1

All entries for the
Step Up to the Plate @ your library® program are due September 1, giving library patrons their final opportunity to enter the national baseball trivia contest for a chance to win a grand prize trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.

To help ensure mailed entries are sent by the deadline, libraries are encouraged to collect entries and send them in bulk. All entries must be postmarked by September 1 and sent to: Step Up to the Plate @ your library, PO Box 118070, Chicago, IL 60611. No express mail packages will be accepted (Fed Ex, UPS, etc.).

All entries submitted through the
Step Up to the Plate Web site at
www.ala.org/baseball also must be completed by September 1.

As a reminder, libraries that bring in the most number of entries are eligible to win special incentives. The library that brings in the most entries will get a $100 bookstore gift certificate, a copy of
Lawrence Hogan's Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball (published by National Geographic Society) and three copies of
Satch and Me by Dan Gutman (published by HarperCollins).

The next three libraries will receive a $50 ALA Graphics gift certificate, a copy of
Shades of Glory and three copies of
Satch and Me.

The
Step Up to the Plate @ your library program, developed by the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, uses a series of baseball trivia questions to help teach 21st century literacy skills.

One grand-prize winner will win a trip to the Hall of Fame's World Series Game One Gala event in Cooperstown, N.Y., in October, and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum. The grand prize also includes an Ozzie Smith autographed baseball.

Twenty first-place prize packages also will be awarded, including a commemorative hardbound copy of the Hall of Fame Yearbook, Hall of Fame t-shirt, commemorative set of 20 Hall of Fame baseball cards and more.

Since the program began in April, nearly 1,400 libraries have registered for the program at
www.ala.org/baseball to gain access to free tools to help promote the program locally.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a founding partner of The Campaign for America's Libraries, which is also made possible in part by ALA Library Champions. The
Step Up to the Plate @ your library program is supported by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), the Public Library Association (PLA), REFORMA, and the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum.